Ocean Crusaders has just launched a new program for yachts and regattas known as Ocean Safe Certified. This new program is to encourage ocean users to look at their daily habits and make changes accordingly to lessen the impact on our oceans.

The Ocean Safe Certified Yacht Program requires owners and crew to choose 5 key guidelines and commit to sticking by these every day. They could be using green bags rather than plastic bags, not using bottled water, using marine safe anti-fouls or simply completing maintenance in an environmentally friendly manner. The main guideline that Ocean Crusaders would like owners and crew to follow is to stop using bottled water. The world consumes 200 billion liters of bottled water in plastic and with only 36.7% of plastic be recycled, this is creating a massive problem for our oceans where plastics are clogging up the oceans and killing marine life. We’ve all experienced the problem of plastic water bottles cluttering up our rope bags so why not use a refillable bottle and buy large containers of water or fill them up out of your tanks. We created Yachting Packs where you can by S/S bottles with coolers along with grocery bags so that owners can implement these changes easily. All packs are at discounted prices so encourage use!

Our Ocean Safe Certified Regatta program is designed to have regattas and events comply by several key guidelines in the running of events. If an event can be plastic bag free, not sell bottled water or use plastic cups etc, they too can gain a certification. There are lots of guidelines to choose from and regattas can choose from Bronze, Silver or Gold levels according to how many guidelines they commit to.

At the end of the day, we are ocean users and it is our responsibility to ensure we set an example and reduce our impact on the oceans. 20% of the rubbish in the oceans comes from boats, we need to make a change today to save the life of a marine creature tomorrow.

We are also seeking corporate sponsors for each program to help us cover costs of promoting these campaigns around the world. If you know of anyone who would benefit from this, then please put them in touch with us.